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November 11-13, 1973 Lyceum, London, ENG
(11th) Set List: I Can't Explain Summertime Blues My Generation I Am The Sea The Real Me Punk And The Godfather I'm One Helpless Dancer 5.15 Sea And Sand Drowned Bell Boy Dr. Jimmy The Rock Love Reign O'er Me My Generation Pinball Wizard See Me, Feel Me Won't Get Fooled Again Magic Bus Chaotic scenes at the box office prompted The Who to add four London shows in late December. In Melody Maker (November 17), Michael Watts wrote of this performance of Quadrophenia: "The Who haven't yet worked out their sound logistics on it; a huge fist of sound crashes about one's ears but it's often hard to divine the thread of the story... what saved a sagging storyline at several points was the pure ferocity of their playing and singing and Townshend's startlingly visual sense (one leap onto the stage from the wings was eye-boggling)... the real high moments of the evening came not during Quadrophenia but towards the end... For the first time on Sunday there was real heat and love in the audience for a band that has remained true to its working class roots, and is striving to find a balance between its aggression and its intellect. Whatever the underlying conflicts, The Who's musicianship only increases in stature." (12th) Set List: I Can't Explain Summertime Blues My Generation I Am The Sea The Real Me Punk And The Godfather I'm One Helpless Dancer 5.15 Sea And Sand Drowned Bell Boy Dr. Jimmy The Rock Love Reign O'er Me My Generation (improvisation) Won't Get Fooled Again See Me, Feel Me Magic Bus Spoonful/Smokestack Lightning (improvisation) When Pete came to introduce Quadrophenia, he was interrupted by a vociferous heckler, whom he promptly told to "fucking shut up, will you!" 'The Real Me' was looser and more improvised than the recorded version and it tended to vary each show in terms of length and feel. Following 'Punk And The Godfather', Townshend told the audience: "That song was all about when the hero goes to a rock concert. He queues up, pays his money and he decides he's gonna go and see the stars backstage as they come out the stage door. And one of 'em comes up and says 'fuck off'. And he suddenly realises that there's nothing really happening in rock'n'roll... It's just another cross on his list. But he thinks a lot about the other side... He's not such a snappy dresser." Again, shouting from the audience interrupted Townshend. "Why don't you fucking shut up?" he continued. "Go and fucking see someone else, man... Or come up here and rock yourself. I'm talking, aren't I?" Ironically, Townshend sounded here not unlike the Godfather figure of his song, although he was clearly annoyed. After 'I'm One', Daltrey explained why 'The Dirty Jobs' had been omitted from the performance: "It doesn't really work on stage, so we've left it out. Anyway, he gets a job as a dustman like most kids have to do when they leave school at 15. There's nothing much else. He gets pissed off with that... Of course, when you do something that stinks there's always a lot of other stinky things around. And he gets mixed up with the most stinky thing of all - politics!" The three lengthy central songs in Quadrophenia - '5.15', 'Sea And Sand', and 'Drowned' - all featured prolonged instrumental solos and occupied nearly half an hour of the concert. Prior to 'Bell Boy', Keith Moon received rapturous applause and this song had begun to establish itself as the highlight of the Quadrophenia suite, although this version was a little sloppy due to the guitar not sounding too well integrated with the backing tape. The second version of 'My Generation' worked into a lengthy jam, which developed into a new riff to which Daltrey sang, and Pete played some fine solos. Once more, as in Manchester, 'See Me, Feel Me' stopped dead halfway through and Roger encouraged the audience to continue singing. Again, 'Magic Bus' emerged as the highlight of the set - a loose, pulsating rhythm which finally developed into a bluesy jam based on 'Spoonful' and 'Smokestack Lightning'. This improvisation finally concluded the concert with a tighter hard rock riff that resembled Richard Berry's rock'n'roll perennial 'Louie Louie'. (13th) Set List: I Can't Explain Summertime Blues My Generation I Am The Sea The Real Me The Punk And The Godfather I'm One Helpless Dancer 5.15 Sea And Sand Drowned Bell Boy Doctor Jimmy The Rock Love Reign O'er Me My Generation Won't Get Fooled Again See Me Feel Me Magic Bus Spoonful By the third show it had become painfully clear that the old Lyceum theatre -home of British actor Sir Henry Irving a century earlier - was grossly inadequate for The Who's latest show. Pete particularly liked the theatre, but the band hadn't played there since 1968. With the new quadrophonic PA system and lighting gear, the venue didn't allow many people anything like a decent view. Melody Maker (November 24) was inundated with letters from fans who, having paid the top price of £2.20 for tickets, found they couldn't see the stage at this final London show. As disgruntled fans tried to move elsewhere to gain a better view, a good deal of jostling and pushing occurred. Most fans blamed the layout of the theatre rather than the band, and one correspondent - Miss D. Nunn - gave "all credit to The Who, especially Roger Daltrey, who tried his utmost to organise us, admitting that the Lyceum was not their ideal venue either". As usual, not wishing to evade responsibility, Pete wrote to Melody Maker himself: "To all the people who inevitably will complain about the organisation at the Lyceum, The Who say, please, please hang on. Next year we will be playing larger, more suitable places, with cheaper seats. And to those who were hurt, or even just disgusted at not being able to see. Nobody feels as bad about it as ourselves." One direct result of this problem was the scheduling of four concerts in late December at Edmonton Sundown. It is perhaps worth mentioning, however, that The Who played all the London venues of all sizes through their career and they never really found a place that they liked... Nor did The Who ever offer "cheaper seats"! In general, the British tour had been grossly inadequate in terms of regional coverage, and many fans - especially in Scotland and Wales - had little chance of seeing the band.